Want to play college volleyball?? Here are some thoughts & suggestions. If you are a high school student athlete that is hoping to play college volleyball, this document contains information that will hopefully be helpful to you. As you are working through this process it is important to keep things in perspective. Volleyball is a great sport, and if you work hard enough and get good enough at this sport, it may enable you to get a partial or full scholarship. However, keep in mind that the entire reason that you are trying to get that scholarship is to help pay for a college degree, which in almost every case will benefit you far more down the road than any level of volleyball skill ever will. And, if you think about it, if you were to get a part time job during high school and put the same amount of time into that job as many athletes put into a sport, then you could probably make at least as much, if not more than what most scholarships are worth. And that s not even counting how much some of you spend on clubs or camps outside of school. Volleyball can be fun and rewarding in many ways, and very few people love the sport more than I do, but it can be easy to lose perspective. You will play college volleyball for no more than 4 or 5 years, while your working career in life will probably span 30-40 years So PLEASE, if you are thinking about playing volleyball (or any other sport) in college, do it because you love to play the game, and don t forget that the real reason that you are going to college is to get that degree. With that being said, here are some thoughts & suggestions that should help you out. 1) VISIT WITH YOUR HIGH SCHOOL GUIDANCE COUNSELOR EARLY If you are a young high school athlete and you think that there is a chance that you may want to play college sports, you should visit with your guidance counselor and make sure that the classes that you are taking in high school will count towards NCAA requirements. Those that plan to attend an NCAA Division I institution must have 16 core courses. Not all classes you take in high school meet core course requirements! You also must meet a sliding scale minimum for GPA & SAT/ACT. Sit down with your guidance counselor early on and make sure that you are making progress towards these requirements. 2) EVALUATE YOUR PLAYING LEVEL & ABILITY Figure out what level you could realistically play. You need to get a good grasp of your skill level and be realistic about where you could actually go to play and be a contributor. There are a lot of different levels of volleyball that you can play and enjoy, but you need to be realistic. Get your coach s feedback on this and ask for their input. In the vast majority of cases Big10 programs will be out of the question except for the most elite athletes/players in the country. However, there are still many good options and opportunities as the Midwest has some solid non- Big10 D1 programs and a ton of great DII and DIII programs as well. Things to consider: 1. NCAA vs NAIA: do your research. Different eligibility requirements, scholarships, etc. 2. DI vs DII vis DIII. Is this important to you? Division doesn t necessarily correlate to skill level: DIII teams in Midwest might be better than DII teams on east coast. Likewise the top DII programs in the Midwest (Concordia, etc) would beat some DI programs in other parts of the country. 3. Scholarships are different: DI and DII can offer athletic scholarships. DIII can t offer athletic scholarships but they can oftentimes make up for that by offering academic assistance and grants. 4. Time commitment: In DI programs and some DII programs, volleyball might start to feel like a job because of the time commitment involved. (And in scholarship situations it pretty much is a job since the school is paying you to play for them.) In DIII programs there are more restrictions on practice time. What time commitment are you willing to make?
3) RANK POTENTIAL COLLEGES BASED ON VOLLEYBALL CRITERIA Once you have an idea of the level that you want to play based on your self-evaluation, come up with a system to rank ten schools with respect to their volleyball program and other volleyball related considerations that may make sense to think about when creating your wish-list of colleges. You can check with your Guidance Office to get a list of all available colleges. Here are some volleyball related criteria that you may want to consider: 1. Quality of program: how much success have they had? Conference/Competition? Good recruiting classes? 2. Quality of the coaching. Comfort level with the coaches. Do you respect the coaches? Do they seem a bit odd to you? Do the coaches share your values? What is their background? Can you relate to them? Does the coach care about your success in areas other than your sport? Ask the current players what they think about the coach when the coach isn t around. Ask about the coach s character, values & qualities outside of volleyball and gauge the responses. 3. Do the athletes at the college take academic success seriously? Do you see them working hard and trying to achieve excellence? What does volleyball mean to them? Is it just about status? What is the culture like? 4. Will you be able to play right away? What type of role would you have on the team? Are you comfortable being a role player or do you want to be a starter? Will you be happy if you don t start in year 1? Would you rather be a star on a bad team or a role player on a great team? Or something in the middle? 4) RANK POTENTIAL COLLEGES BASED ON NON-VOLLEYBALL CRITERIA Next, do some research and figure out what type of college you are interested in without considering volleyball as a factor. Come up with a way to rank the schools and use that ranking system to create non-volleyball rankings of the top ten volleyball schools that you came up with in the section 2 above. Here are some general college related considerations that may make sense to think about: 1. What are you hoping to pursue in college? What type of degree do you want to get? If you are interested in a business degree then a good business school might be ranked a bit higher. If not interested in a specific field, then find some other way to rank the quality of education. 2. In many cases there won t be an opportunity to get a full scholarship, so it may make sense to build in a factor to rank by total 4 year cost of education as well. Don t let a school s initial price tag scare you away. (ie. Private schools) Oftentimes private schools offer non-athletic scholarship packages that can bring costs down to or below some state school prices. 3. What type of school are you looking for? Liberal arts, business, medical, engineering, nursing, etc. 4. Does location matter? Proximity to home? Does school size matter? Big City vs smaller community? 5. Do things like spiritual climate matter? Do you have a preference between Public or Private? 6. How much do you like the campus? Would you be comfortable there? 5) COMBINE YOUR RANKING LISTS TO FORM YOUR TOP-10 COLLEGE WISH LIST. Once you ve gotten your schools ranked based on both volleyball related criteria and on non-volleyball criteria, combine them to form your Top10 list of potential colleges. This is your starting point. 6) REGISTER WITH THE NCAA CLEARINGHOUSE. You will need to register with the NCAA Clearinghouse. Typically this should be done immediately following your junior year of high school. The NCAA Clearinghouse is an organization outside of the NCAA which performs academic record evaluations to determine if a prospective student-athlete is eligible to participate at an NCAA Division I or II college as a freshman student-athlete. Look up the Division I Initial Eligibility Requirements for a breakdown of those minimum academic requirements. All freshman and two-year college transfers who do not have an associate degree and would like to participate in any sport at an NCAA member institution (Division I or II) must register for the academic portion of the Clearinghouse. Check with your HS guidance office for more info on this.
7) PREPARE YOUR RESUME / INTRODUCTION LETTER. POST SOME VIDEO FOOTAGE ONLINE. 1. Create a 1 page resume / introduction letter that you can email coaches. I ve included an example letter at the end of this document. 2. Post some video of you playing onto YouTube. If you need help with this let me know. a. Have someone take video of all of your games with a high definition camera so that you can easily be seen. b. Don t make a highlight film. Anyone can make themselves look good in a highlight film. c. Show game footage against a solid opponent. Don t worry if it shows an error or two being made by you. Coaches want to see how you will react to mistakes, how you interact with teammates, etc. d. You can edit matches to eliminate breaks between plays, etc. But make sure to show yourself in real games against good opponents using skills that a college coach will be interested in. A full match is fine. e. You want to show a lot of reps of the skills that you will use in a match. If you are going to be a setter don t show a bunch of hitting, etc.. f. Make sure the coach knows what number you are and what position you are playing in the game. 8) CONTACT THE COACHES SEND THEM YOUR RESUME EXPRESS INTEREST!! 1. Get phone numbers and email addresses for the coaches of the colleges on your top-10 list. 2. Email the coaches your resume / intro letter (example letter included at the end of this doc), along with links to your video footage on YouTube, and let them know that you will be calling in a couple of days to follow up. 3. Wait a couple of days after the email and then call the coaches and let them know that you are interested in playing for them. A couple of thoughts: a. Don t be afraid to call them. It is their job to make you feel comfortable. You just need to call them and let them know who you are and that you are interested in playing for them and then they will lead the conversation and take care of the rest. b. If it makes you more comfortable, have a parent next to you for this conversation and put it on speaker phone. Remember, how you interact in life situations that are new to you can reflect on how you will react on the court when things get tough. Be confident and don t be afraid to ask questions and put yourself out there! c. If they don t answer then just leave a voicemail or a message and let them know who you are, where you are from, that you are interested in playing for them, that you sent them an email a couple of days ago, and that you wanted to confirm that they received the email. d. Keep calling! Don t give up. Only leave a VM once but then try calling again a day or two later and continue trying every couple of days or so until you actually get them on the phone. e. Don t be afraid to ask the coach, Where do you see me fitting in? Or, What can you envision my role on this team being? This may be important for you to know when you are narrowing down your list of schools to visit. IMPORTANT: You need to understand that college coaches may not be allowed to call or email you back. I believe that NCAA volleyball recruiting rules say that coaches can only email you once you ve started your junior year of high school and that they can only call you once you ve started your senior year of high school. Also, I believe that the frequency with which they can email and call are regulated. So don t think that they are ignoring you!! There is a good chance that they can t initiate contact with you because of recruiting rules. However, they can answer calls that you place to them. So if you call them and happen to catch them by the phone then they are allowed to talk to you. And they can read your emails. They can also call and email your high school and/or JO coach and communicate to them. So always make sure to include your HS and/or JO coach s contact info in any correspondence so that the college coach has that on hand in case they have questions or want to express interest in you through those coaches. Moral of the story: Be a squeaky wheel! Don t be afraid to reach out to a coach! Make sure that the coaches at your top-10 list of colleges are aware of you and aware that you are interested in playing for them. The worst that can happen is they say no. Get used to that. Rejection is part of life and you don t have to be afraid of that. Move on to the next choice and try again. If none of them are interested, re-evaluate your ability and create a new list.
9) SCHEDULE AND ARRANGE COLLEGE VISITS There are 2 types of visits that can be made - Official visits and Unofficial visits: Official visits: These are paid for by the college. o The NCAA allows official visits to be paid for by the school (lodging, transportation, meals, and entertainment). The school is NOT allowed to pay for your parents. o Official visits cannot be made until the opening day of class on your senior year. o You can make only ONE official visit to any one college. You can make up to 5 official visits to D1 and D2 schools combined. DIII visits do not count towards your official total of 5 visits, but you can still only visit each DIII school once. o An official visit may be up to 48hrs. o Note that not all colleges can afford to pay for all of the allowed expenses, especially DII and DIII schools. So make sure that you know up front what will be paid for. o Typically official visits are offered to top recruits. If an official visit offer is not extended, especially at the D1 or DII level, you must accept the fact that you aren t high on the recruiting list. Be upfront when communicating with the coach and ask them if they plan to offer you an official visit. And if they ask you to visit during your senior year ask if it will be an official visit. Make sure to let the coach know what other comparable or better programs are also recruiting you. Be honest about this. If they know that competing schools are recruiting you this may raise your stock. The fact that you are initiating dialogue about an official visit and that you are arranging visits with other colleges will create leverage and a sense of urgency. o Offers are usually made during your official visit, and your parents may not be there with you. Feel comfortable telling a coach that you need to let your parents review any financial information before you commit. If a university really wants you they will wait a few days or a week. Unofficial visits: These are paid for by yourself. o You can take an unofficial visit as early as your freshman year. o You can take an unlimited number of unofficial visits. o The only expenses that a college can pay for during an unofficial visit are 3 complimentary admissions to any home athletic contest, which can be used by anyone you desire. A coach can drive you to see the facility if it s off campus providing it is not longer than 30 miles from campus. o Typically a coach will talk to you about their institution and athletic program and give you a brief tour of the facility. o A coach may give you an indication of their level of interest if they ve seen you play. A verbal scholarship may be extended, but this is NOT binding. o Ask the coach where you stand in their recruiting class and what you should improve on to move up. o Take the initiative and arrive with good questions and knowledge about their program. o It can be beneficial to schedule unofficial visits during your sophomore or junior year. It doesn t hurt to start early and it is nice to be able to visit the schools more than once. If you do the unofficial visits early you will have some level familiarity with the college when you go back for you official visit as a senior. You need to coordinate visits with the coach. Call or email the coach to inform them that you are coming to campus and would like to setup a meeting. Contact the coach well in advance or you may miss out on an opportunity! Depending on your age, the coach may not be able to respond to your call or email, but they can coordinate the details through your high school or JO coach. Or just keep calling them until you get them on the phone. If you decide that you are no longer interested in a school it is important to communicate that to the coaches. Don t just fall off the radar and start avoiding them. They understand that it is a business and that you are looking for the best fit for you. Let them know why they are not on your list anymore and wish them well. They will appreciate that. Here is a good resource with more information on visits: http://nationalchamps.net/recruiting/docs/recruiting_visits_guide.pdf
10) USE A SPREADSHEET TO ORGANIZE INFO & TO TRACK YOUR ACTIVITY AND PROGRESS Create a spreadsheet containing all of the potential colleges, rankings, thoughts, coach contact info, etc. Also use it to keep track of which schools you have contacted, special notes, thoughts based on visits or dialogue, responses, etc. It is important to keep all of this information in a single place. Keep detailed notes. This will come in handy when it is time to make your final decision. COMMENTS: What about recruiting sites or services?? In general I don t believe that recruiting services are necessary. A good recruiting site can do pretty much everything for you and there are some good ones out there (NCSA, etc.), but at this point in time recruiting is very much player driven. And to be honest I think that many coaches will be impressed by a player that isn t afraid to take the initiative to make contact on their own and market themself to a program. It takes guts and confidence for a 16 or 17 year old kid to call a college coach and tell them that you d like to play for them. It also shows that you aren t afraid to put yourself out there even though you might be rejected and fail, which is a critical quality to have if you are going to be successful in athletics. Questions / comments about this document? If you see anything in this document that you don t agree with, or if you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know and I ll certainly consider changing it. The idea for this was to give our athletes a basic roadmap that shows them how to approach the process of getting recruited to play volleyball in college. It can be a bit intimidating if you aren t familiar with the process so hopefully this helps increase the comfort level a bit. You can email me at: vanoorta@umn.edu Thanks! Adam VanOort - Kasson Mantorville High School Volleyball Good reference site: http://progressionvolleyball.com/empowering-the-student-athlete/#more-43 *** An example Resume / Introduction letter to email coaches is included on the next page.
Sally Smith Outside Hitter, Sophomore, Class of 2015 Personal Information Coach Information Parents: Johnny Smith KM HS Coach: Jack Coachalot Jenny Smith Phone: 507-634-5678 Email: JCoach1@gmail.com Phone: 507-634-1234 Email: my_email@email.com SMV JO Coach: Jill Coachalot Address: 1234 11 th St. Phone: 507-634-3456 Kasson, MN 55944 Email: JCoach2@gmail.com Academic Objective: To earn an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering. Athletic Objective: To compete at my highest potential, be a major contributor on my team, and win a National Championship. Dear Coach Johnson, My name is Sally Smith. I am a sophomore at Kasson Mantorville High School in Kasson, MN. I understand that I cannot have contact initiated by you until September 1 st of my junior year, but I wanted to let you know that I am interested in playing volleyball for you at the University of XYZ after I graduate high school. I hope that the information included below will give you an idea of who I am. I love volleyball and I love what I know about the University of XYZ. I look forward to meeting you at the appropriate time. Take Care, Sally Smith School: Kasson Mantorville HS: Grades 9-12: Student enrollment 620: Class AA in MSHSL Volleyball Born: 2-13-1997 Position: Outside hitter (right or left side) Height / Dominate hand: 5 11 / Right handed Standing Reach: 7 6 Block Jump: 8 10 Approach Jump: 9 6 GPA: 3.90 Volleyball History: 2010-2011: Kasson Mantorville JO Volleyball (12 s and 14 s) 2012-2013: SMV JO Club Rochester, MN (15-1 s in 2012 and 16-1 s in 2013) 2012-2013: Kasson Mantorville High School Varsity Volleyball team Career Highlights: Kasson Mantorville High School: o Freshman Year (2012 season): All Conference (only freshman that received All Conference honors), Team Most Improved Top 4 on the team in kills (248), blocks (39), digs (119), serve receptions (254) and aces (21) o Sophomore Year (2013 season): All Conference, All-State Honorable Mention Team advanced to the state semi-finals and was 26-3 on the year Led team in kills (421), blocks (57), and aces (39). 2nd on the team in digs (232) & serve receptions (373) SMV JO Rochester Club (Rochester, MN) o 15-1 s: Played primarily Left-side OH for a team that took 2 nd at USA Volleyball Nationals Named All-Tournament Team at USA Volleyball 15 Open Nationals o 16-1 s: Major Tournament Playing Schedule: o Northern Lights Qualifier, Minneapolis, MN: April 15 17 o National Junior Classic, Chicago, IL: May 27 30 o USAV Nationals, Atlanta, GA: July 1 4 (named All-American)